before i pull the trigger on ordering a bimini from towerbiminis.com i am wondering if anyone has any experience with their biminis. Customer service has been great...just wondering about personal feedback in regards to quality and functionality of their design. Appreciate any feedback.

Their bimini and service are top notch. I like having a bimini that is fully mounted on the tower with no straps to the boat hull. Everything installed easily and it is pretty easy to take up and down during the day once you get used to the process. The frame is very sturdy and tight. I went with the stainless steel hardware (not the frame) and I'm glad I did that, there is a fair amount of pressure on the pins when the bimini is up.

To top it off, they even meet me in San Jose after hours to personally deliver it so I didn't have to pay shipping.

Mine is on a Proflight tower made in Modesto, so they had the mock up of the tower in the shop.

I have one. Great quality but still a bit steep for what it is. The clamps have no rubber grommets like most of the tower mounted stuff I've dealt with. So, I scratched my tower up a bit while in the process of getting the clamps in position. In hindsight I should have wrapped the area in cellophane while measuring and moving things around. Then, once in position marked and mounted them a final time.

Folding isn't exactly slick. It's actually a bit of a pain to get it rolled and in the boot.

All that said I think mine looks great when open and provides a lot more shade than any of the universal options would have offered.

I have one and I love it. It has much more shade and looks really good on. Its a bit of a PITA to take down and fold up but it is foldable with a boot. I liked the finish look of them with not alot of bows showing and hooking back down to the deck. That was the big deal for me. Very clean look!!! Not an afterthought.

I fold my tower with the bimini on there. My tower folds back so it's a bit of a pain. Your tower folds forward so I'd expect you could just leave it on there with the rear and middle bows attached to your rear tower legs.

Just so you know what you're getting into here's how you fold it:
1) disconnect both sides of the tensioning bow (Middle bow)
2) Remove the two thumb screws from the front bow and try not to drop them in the water if the boat is still on the water.
3) During the process the front bow will seem like it's stable and stuck in the brackets so you briefly divert your attention elsewhere and it suddenly pops loose and hits the person in the observers seat on the head. Ha! I mention this because I've done it numerous times.
4) Bring the front bow to the middle and then both to the rear bow.
5) Wrap the front bow around the middle and rear bows a few times. Otherwise there's so much excess fabric to deal with it will be difficult to get the boot on.
6) Reconnect the tensioning bow legs to the rear post of the tower.
7) Put the boot on

Deploying it is pretty much the reverse.

Between steps 4 and 5 things are flailing around a bit because only the rear bow is attached to the tower so it can obviously pivot freely.

Rock solid product that is much easier for me to fold and store, as well as open up and get installed. Simple no rattle design. Great customer service

My process is no where near Jeff D's. Just put front bar in place and install pins. Done.

It was a pain to install at first to find exact perfect location. Once done tho I haven't had to adjust a thing in 5 yrs. For me I think it was worth every penny extra. I have the standard hardware and 5 yrs running and used almost everyone out with zero problems.

My process is no where near Jeff D's. Just put front bar in place and install pins. Done.

Well, I guess there are a few factors at play in my situation that make it seem worse.
1) I've got a 230 VRS. It looks like you've got an '00 X-Star. My bimini is pretty giant compared to my neighbor's Tower Bimini.com bimini on his SAN 210. Mine's the biggest bimini I've ever seen in real life on a ski boat and therefore probably a little harder to deal with. It's almost literally double the size of the OEM bimini on my friend's '07 X2.

2) I have to unfold and refold my tower to the rear to get it out/in my garage which the bimini interferes with. So, I've already got a pretty long list of "chores" to do to get the boat ready. I guess I'm more inclined to whine about this sort of thing vs. someone who just connects up to the boat and goes and only has to deal with the bimini.

3) Mine is so tight front to rear that there's no way I could remove the front bow from the clamps without disconnecting the middle "tensioning" bow. My tower speakers prevent me from being able to pivot the center bow rearward while connected to the tower anyway. Also, the instructions from TowerBiminis did say to disconnect the middle bow like I do.

All that said I wouldn't buy another bimini. I think it's a big factor in the overall "look" of my boat. For most applications I prefer the under the tower look vs. the over the top look. It also offers a lot of shade for the wife and kids.